The present invention relates to methods of controlling oil fires at a burning wellhead. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and device for separating the oil from the gas at an oil fire.
One of the consequences of the war in the Middle East is that there are now hundreds of oil fires burning in Kuwait. Some estimates say that the amount of oil wasted in Kuwait every day is one third the daily consumption of the entire United States. Most of the wellhead control valves have been destroyed, and some wells are now gushing at about 10,000 barrels a day. This is more than twice as much as the usual 3,000-4,000 barrels produced per day during normal production. Burning oil and accompanying gases are spewing out up to 500,000 tons of pollution every week, blackening the sky and creating an environmental catastrophe that will likely have global consequences. Wasted oil is rapidly covering large areas of land. There is 100 million dollars a day of lost revenue, which could result in dire economic consequences. In short, this is a very serious problem.
The current pace of extinguishing the well fires is much too slow. Methods now in use involve spraying water on the fire for up to several weeks in attempts to cool it down in hopes that it will not reignite when explosives are employed to blow the fire out. If the exposives are successful, an attempt is made to install a valve on the wellhead. In the meantime oil flows all over the neighboring sand. All of this is very time consuming, and so far it has only been effective in extinguishing some of the fires.
There therefore exists an urgent need for a more rapid way to control all of the oil fires, and return the oil to useful production.